Iraqi woman operated for spine condition at JJ hospital

MUMBAI: Doctors from the city’s state-run GT and JJ hospitals have relieved a 20-year-old Iraqi medical student of her ordeal with a spine deformity, making it one of their first successful attempts to project public hospitals as a potential medical tourism destination.

Eman Amin Mehdi had developed scoliosis—a debilitating condition of the spine, where it bends abnormally, around the age of 14. This caused breathlessness and back pain and the hunched back impeded normal life. Ameen first contacted GT’s spine surgeon Dr Dhiraj Sonawane in June. She shared her medical reports and subsequently came to Mumbai on August 9. A team of doctors, including JJ’s former dean and orthopaedic surgeon Dr Ajay Chandanwale, performed the surgery at JJ Hospital on August 16. “We meticulously planned the surgery that could be performed for $2,000 (Rs 1.5lakh). She was charged only for the implants,” said Dr Sonawane, adding Ameen was told the surgery would cost Rs 50 lakh in Germany, the UK and a few other countries.

Ameen, who was discharged on September 29, is back to pursuing her medical education in Armenia.